Expert advice on cybersecurity, cybersafety and cybercrime. Using real incidents, I explain why cyber risks occur, what form they take, and how they affect cybercitizens as individuals, employees, citizens and parents. Opinions expressed in this blog represent my personal views

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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

It isn’t, but
that is the very message youngsters in India are beginning to receive when
political activists riot outside their houses and haul their brothers and
sisters to nearby police stations. More so, when they are young, innocent and
unsuspecting victims of pranksters as in the recent case of a teenage boy, from
a suburb of Mumbai.

The prankster’s
modus operandi is simple. Spoof the victims Facebook ID or hack into his legitimate
one.Post an offensive message against
the political leader. Relax, and enjoy the drama which unfolds as the victim
faces the ire of the leader’s supporters and is embroiled in a police
investigation.

This strategy
was used by a prankster (or individual wanting to settle a score) to put a 19
year old lad in a state of emotional distress.The boy was escorted to the police station by people he knew from the
neighborhood in which he lived for the last 17 years. The cyber police after a brief
investigation cleared his name.

Some of
statements he made which were published in the Times of India show the fear and anguish
his family faced:

“I was scared when the
police detained me. I was worried for my parents and sister who wondered why
using the Internet should land someone in the police station”

“My sisters (one in
class 12 and another in class 8) were asking if using the Internet was a crime”

People
affected by offensive posts are entitled to follow the due process of the law
by filing complaints and allowing the police to investigate. But at the same
time they must be restrained from taking law into their own hands and hauling
individuals to police stations based on their own interpretation of posts
and tweets.

To be safe from
such problems remember that you are responsible for what you post online and
the wider audience that views it. Do take precautions to report spoofed
accounts as well as your legitimate accounts that have been hacked. The
responsibility for protecting your accounts rests on your use of best practices
while choosing passwords and while surfing the Internet.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Multiple
arrests of social networkers over “allegedly offensive” posts under Section 66
A of the Indian IT Act has motivated pranksters and people seeking revenge to
hack into legitimate Facebook accounts or to setup spoofed accounts in their
victims name to circulate offensive and hate posts against well known political
leaders, communities and Indian national emblems.

In an
attempt to avoid being embroiled in tiresome police investigations or to face
the ire of political parties- social networkers who searched for spoofed
profiles in their name or found that their accounts were hacked into have
started reporting such instances to the Indian cyber police.

The lack of clear guidelines about
which content violates Section
66 A of the Indian IT Act has resulted in the flawed reasoning behind these
arbitrary arrests of innocent social networkers for banal posts and posts from
hacked accounts. It is advisable for Indian social networkers to proactively
check if their account was spoofed or hacked into and report those to the
respective social networking sites or the police.

Most online sites which accept
user-generated content have a‘reporting’ mechanism. Sites allow subscribers to
report others who violate their Statement of Rights and Responsibilities by
clicking the ‘Report’ or‘Block this Person’ type tick boxes. Users can report
profiles that impersonate them, use their photograph, list a fake name, that do
not represent a real person or carry abusive posts. They can also report
improper images, nudity, illegal drug use, the advocacy of terrorism or cyber
harassment.

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About Me

Security author and passionate blogger @LuciusonSecurity writing on risks that affect Internet users such as cyber crime, defamation, impersonation, privacy and security. Working hard to reduce cyber risks to some of the world's largest businesses. Find me on Twitter @luciuslobo or Linkedin at http://in.linkedin.com/in/luciuslobo